The Paradoxes of Time Travel by David Lewis. The Quantum Physics of Time Travel by David Deutsch and Michael Lockwood. Science Fiction as Epistemology by Richard Hanley. Appendix Philosophers recommend Science Fiction by Eric Schwitzgebel.

These are the last 3 essays (+appendix) in this anthology edited by Susan Schneider which I have enjoyed reading since May 2021. The 3 essays on time are interesting but with some difficult concepts. The first essay discusses external time vs personal time, comparing how a time traveler’s time is different from time in the outside world when he/she time travels. In the quantum physics of time Deutsch and Lockwood explain how time works in the quantum realm as opposed to what we can see in what we call the real world which is governed by classical physics, which the authors describe as false. In science fiction of epistemology Hanley discusses the concept of miracle or the supernatural, and explains how they might not make sense using three examples: time travel, other dimensions and simulations. Miracles cease to be when we find an explanation for them.  The appendix is basically an amazing list of science fiction literature recommendations.

Heaven's Door by Keiichi Koike. Heaven's Door Extra Works

Usually, I'm not good with short stories, but this anthology blew my mind. A mixture of #scifi and #psychodelic themes. Dreams, alternative realities, absurdities, weirdness all with amazing artwork.

Loved all the stories, except probably Lenbo's Diary which I didn't understand much but enjoyed. Maybe too weird but crazy panels. My favourite: Knockin' on Heaven's Door, Lazarus Franco's 4a.m., Sponge Generation and Airway.

The synopsis reads:

"A sci-fi manga collection of psychedelic short stories by Keiichi Koike.

A drug in paper form!"

El Arte del Crimen (The Art of Crime) by Marc Omeyer and Olivier Berlion.

El Arte del Crimen (The Art of Crime). Five stories about crime. All written by Marc Omeyer and Olivier Berlion. Each story is drawn and coloured by different artists. French comic. This is the Spanish edition. (I hope they published more French comics like this in English.)

I really enjoyed this book. The first story is about a man obsessed with an unfinished comic book. And people who had something to do with the comic are dying. The other stories are written by this man and are about crimes committed in the name of different sorts of art:

1. Comic - 1970s about the comic obsessed man.

2. Painting - Paris 1860 - a novel painter who gets inspiration in strange ways.

3. Architecture - this is a pirate story

4. Sculpture - takes place in roman times

5. Film - early 20 century

There are 9 stories in total. The other 4 stories should be published soon (hopefully).

Light Chaser by Peter F Hamilton and Gareth Powell

A fun, quick read. Lots of things packed in just over 170 pages. Themes I enjoyed: immortality, reincarnation and

Evil AI as well as that sense of immensity of space-time that makes us seem insignificant.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

I liked the Martian. I hated Artemis. I saw this book in the public library and took a chance with little hope. But it was a fun and interesting read. I'd say better than the Martian. At least it has better character development and a more elaborated plot. The protagonist isn't only a science nerd, but a round, interesting person with a willingness to survive and to help others. I liked the friendship he develops with the other protagonist. An unlikely friendship between a scientist and an engineer. Different expertises, sometimes opposite mindsets but always interdependent and complementary. It is that difference which is exploited in the story, as a source of strength for the characters to succeed in their mission.

The book isn't strong on the philosophical level but touches on some interesting concepts such as humanity’s extinction, evolution and origins of life.

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Translation and Introduction by Gregory Hays

First encounter with Stoicism and won’t be the last one.

I loved the introduction. I think, as much as I enjoyed the actual meditations. I read the meditations first as I was reading someone else’s diary. It was like going inside Marcus Aurelius mind. The content is far from autobiographical. It is more about a (not so organised) set of beliefs, that the emperor noted for himself. I guess to get through difficult times. The tone isn’t optimistic but realistic I would say. Not everything resonated with me but the paragraphs that did, were wow! I liked the meditations on death, on how he thought we should face the inevitable. Not to fear but to embrace it.

The introduction was excellent. It gave so much context to what I had read and further reading… maybe Seneca’s Letters from a Stoic or Hellenistic Philosophy by A.A. Long will follow. Though this second one touches on other topics than Stoicism too.

Extraterrestrials by Wade Roush

A super-duper interesting read. As the text in the back of the book reads: “Are we alone in the universe? If not, where is everybody? An engaging exploration of one of the most important unsolved problems in science”, Extraterrestrials briefly explores scientific work done in the past few decades trying to: see if there is a chance that were are not alone in the universe, and if there is, could we find traces of other advanced civilisations in our galaxy?

The well-known Fermi paradox is a consequence to the question posted above. And this book would be an excellent introduction on anything Fermi paradox related, I guess.

The first chapter goes through currents of thought on space and our role in the cosmos, from the Greek philosophers to the dark ages and to revolutionary thinkers such as Copernicus, Bruno and Galileo. Chapter 2 discusses the origins, and work at SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), what they are looking for, where in space are they looking and what technology they are using. Chapter 3 discusses the kinds of life that are possible, what have we learn from life on earth? Also, what kinds of exoplanets could hold life? Chapter 4 lists a number of responses to the Fermi paradox. I didn’t know there could be so many and so varied. Chapter 5 Roush discusses a bit more in-depth the most convincing (to him) answers to the Fermi paradox.

This would be an excellent supplement read to any science fiction reader.

The Origin of Satan. How Christians demonised Jews, pagans and heretics. By Elaine Pagels.

⛔️ This is a history of religion book. Not a horror book.

😬 while the book is very well written and researched, interesting and detailed, I was a bit let down because I thought it would have a dark touch. Instead it has an academic tone which may suit people looking for rigorous research.

👉 Pagels digs the old and new testaments looking for mentions of Satan. Not only the Bible but other ancient books which were not included. She is interested in how, from a historical point of view, perceptions have changed over the years. On how the idea of Satan came to be. From being gods helper to becoming his worst enemy. From being an abstract concept: (forces of) evil, in the old testament, to taking various shapes to end as the entity we now know as Satan.

👉 Pagels considers the historical contexts, refers to other ancient writings, compares the testaments writings between them and with other religious and philosophical writings.

👉 What we get is a kind of socio-political/historical account of the evolution of the concept or if you wish the entity of Satan.

🧐 Things I want to follow up on: the Manuscripts of Nag Hammadi.

The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath by H.P. Lovecraft

Unlike the previous short story in this book, which I read in one sitting, this one took me several days. Not only because of its length, 80 pages, but because I found it hard to read. But I persisted.

The story follows a man called Randolph Carter who goes on an epic journey to find Sunset city which he has seen in his dreams. He doesn't know how to get there so he needs to get to Kadath to ask the gods of earth for help. In his journey he goes to multiple places, like the cat city of Ulthar. Meets strange people and weird creatures. He is captured and released. He walks, climbs and flies on top of scary flying monsters. And he keeps going... In enjoyed the premise of the story but got tired of the too many mentions of name of cities, of creatures, of gods, of hideous people....

The highlight of this story for me was the presence of Crawling Chaos Nyarlathotep, and Azathot. Deities in the Cthulhu mythos. Outer gods, from outerspace.

The Strange High House in the Mist by H.P. Lovecraft

Only 8 pages long. Perfect for a quick read before trick or treating!

A super atmospheric story. A visitor in a strange town who, intrigued by an inaccessible house on the top of cliff, decides to climb and visit it inhabitants.

The Immortality Key. The Secret History of the Religion with no name by Brian Muraresku

Just Mind-blowing. 

This isn’t esoteric, conspiracy, occult or anything like that. This book is based on historical, archaeological and scientific facts. It doesn’t tell the whole story, because there are holes, but it builds a compelling case supporting the author’s hypothesis that Christianity was build over the believes and practices of ancient cults. The author acknowledges that there is yet a lot to uncover, but that there are signs that new discoveries will support his hypothesis. 

The premise: thousands of years ago, perhaps tens of thousands of years ago, humans left nomad, hunter-gatherer life to come to live into bigger settlements, like cities. There is common agreement that this was triggered by the invention of agriculture. However Muraresku believes that before agriculture, that before humans were baking bread, they were brewing beer. There is some archaeological evidence showing this. Beer is a stronger motivation for humans to gather in bigger groups. Some archaeological evidence also shows that humans added a series of additives to their beer, including hallucinogens. The kinds of additives and hallucinogens varied depending on geographical location and time frame. However there is some evidence that these practices are extremely old. 

Anyways, fast forward a few millennia, and we find some well known civilisations following these practices, now becoming more elaborated and sophisticated rituals, think Egypt and Greece. (There are more mentioned in the book but for the sake of brevity…). There are written records of the motivations of these people to follow these practices and the effects on them. These are explained in several ways but all testimonies coincide in that those drugs help people to see beyond death, to stop being and experience God. Once you have experienced this you will not fear death and actually you will not die when you die. What is amazing is that these testimonies very much coincide with modern testimonies of users of psychedelics and hallucinogens, for example, Aldux Huxley relates something similar in his book The Doors of Perception. The same happens with patients who relate their medically-supervised, psychedelic experiences as the best in their lives. Modern medical literature indicates that psychedelics help with anxiety and to overcome fear of death. 

Muraresku devotes a lot of words to explain the Mysteries of Eleusis (Greece), a cult which lasted about 2 thousand years, in which women prepared a beer-based beverage, called Kukeon, seasoned with some sort of hallucinogenic (of which there is no physical evidence yet, but which can be inferred from old texts) and which was given only to initiates, once a year in a temple in Eleusis. A trip to Eleusis would change anyone’s life. It would open their mind to cosmic revelations. People like Plato, Sophocles and Cicero are said to have participated in the ritual. As Eleusis was a secret cult no one was allowed to talked about what happened inside but some of these philosophers left hints in their writings. Muraresku also discusses traces of Eleusis in Homer’s work. The Dionysian rituals are also analysed in detail. Dionysius followers drunk wine instead but as with Eleusis it was spiked with drugs. At some point it is believed that the Eleusian and Dionysian cults merged. 

The role of women in these rituals is important. They appear as the carriers, the priestesses, the pharmacologists in writings and in archaeological evidence in several civilisations. Everything is very much connected to fertility thus the connection with women. They are the ones who kept the secret knowledge and passed it generation after generation. For example think of Demeter and Persephone, two women connected to the Dionysian Myth. 

Fast forward a few centuries. We now have proto Christian groups/cults, in the first 3 centuries AD, writing about Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection with so much Greek mythology (e.g. The Bacchae by Euripides) embedded that it is evident that there is a continuity between those beliefs. Muraresku calls this the “Pagan Continuity Hypothesis with a Psychedelic Twist”. It states that Christianity is based in ancient pagan rituals. To prove this, Muraresku discusses some of the Gospels, including John, Thomas and Mary Magdalene. Muraresku says that the Gospel of John is very much influenced by The Bacchae. The Gospel of Thomas and Mary Magdalene are Gnostic Gospels and where rejected by the church because they didn’t agree with their official narrative. In the Gospel of Thomas we can find some references to the transformation of consciousness and which can allow you enter the kingdom of heaven. The way the text is written it reminds of the use of Psychedelics in the search of God. This would imply that Jesus was not God but an initiate (in the Mysteries) who could help others experience God. (Think about the Wedding at Cana and the Last Supper with a psychedelic lens.) Also the Gospel of John does not mention anything about an all-male priesthood. And this is confirmed in the Gospel of Mary Magdalene in which we are told that she was Jesus’s favourite apostle, and to whom Jesus revealed things he didn’t tell the other apostles. This has clear connotations for the role of women in Christianity. As it seems Christianity was a successor of the ancient psychedelic practices and, as in those practices, women were in charge. All this ended when Constantine converted to Christianism and when, a few decades later, Emperor Theodosius made Christianity the official religion and made the Eleuisian Myseries illegal. And with this, all the secret proto-Christian networks. (The reasons very well explained in the book.) As Christianity became institutionalised, women and drugs were erased, (actually women were hunted as witches) and replaced with male priests and with, as Muraresku says, a fake sacrament that would not make you experience God. 

There is much more in the book. Muraresku relates his trips to Spain, Greece, France and Italy to interview scholars, visit ruins, study artifacts and read ancient manuscripts. (Muraresku reads ancient Greek, Latin and Sanskrit…). And there is more but it would be better if you Read the book!

The book is very well researched. It includes pages and pages of endnotes, and long bibliographies per chapter. Some of the sources look interesting. I might read some of them at some point. Starting maybe with Elaine Pagels.

The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling by Ted Chiang

I wish I knew how to properly dissect stories like this, to see what is inside. Take them apart and analyse each piece, properly. But I can't, and this is what you get. 

Anyways, this story is superb. Fantastic prose, wonderful characters, an interesting structure (intertwining two plots related by concept), exploration of themes like science, technology and language. 

One of the plots in the story explores the role of writing in preserving memories and compares this with memories preserved by oral traditions. There is a moment of disagreement when a native man's statement about the past differs from a written record (written by europeans). The story helps us to understand that (western style) written records and native oral memories correspond to different views of life. The first view values accuracy while the other looks for validation of "the community’s understanding of itself". 

The other plot looks into an implanted memory aid technology, which can record and play any single moment of a person's life (that has been recorded). The memory aid is sold as an improvement over the recording of written memories as it records the real events with out any bias or filter. 

Would you like to have all your life in a record? The 2004 film Final Cut, with Robin Williams, touches on the same theme. 

The first plot reminded me of something I read this week: The Social Leap by W. von Hippel. About the concept of self-deception. Apparently, we evolved the capacity to deceive ourselves in order to deceive other people. And this deception is used as a "social weapon" to achieve our goals. Deception doesn't need to rely on objective reality. In fact, a great deal of value in the social world is created by consensus rather than scientific observation. 

This short story is included in Exhalation, an anthology by Ted Chiang. It was published online, for free by Subterranean press a while ago, but it isn’t there any more. I found a copy somewhere else. It's easy to find on Google if you are interested.

The Social Leap. The New Evolutionary Science of who we are, where we come from and what makes us happy by Willian von Hippel.

This book starts by explaining some facts about our evolution as humans. From the Australopithecines, to the Homo Erectus and then us Homo Sapiens, von Hippel explains how apes abandoned the savannah and the safety of trees, a circumstance that forced us to evolve in certain ways for example the Australopithecus was able to walk upright and throw stones. And the Homo Erectus and Homo Sapiens got an increase in brain size. As the “Social Brain Hypothesis” explains, large brains are needed to manage the social challenges of living in groups and dealing with other people. Large brains allowed us collective action, like hunting in groups, and thus become tops of the food chain. It also allowed us some forms of punishment, such as ostracism and collective punishment. Von Hippel states that collective action brought a cognitive revolution which he calls the Social Leap. Homo Sapiens have inherited some traits from the homo erectus like the ability to plan for the future. Homo Erectus also invented “division of labour” and were able to control fire. Homo Sapiens invented Storytelling and were able to manage complex social relationships. 

Once we get into the Homo Sapiens territory, von Hippel explains how Hunter-Gatherers lived. How they had a healthy diet and built groups in which they were “forced” to share. Their way of living was of “immediate return”, that is, they focused on eating today and when they lacked resources they moved away to other locations. Just a few thousand years ago Homo Sapiens invented agricultural which brought significant changes to the way they lived. To start, humans evolved a tolerance to alcohol to survive in their unhealthy living spaces (faecal poisoning). They were exposed to new illnesses, their diets got restricted and their teeth started to rot. With the invention of agriculture we got private property too, which brought “inequality” to human societies. So, people who were better at what they did were could own more than the ones who didn’t. With time, inheritance entered in the picture, and it wasn’t only the people who worked hard the ones who were rich, but maybe lazy children of rich men. One way to justify this is by saying that some “bloodlines” are better than others. Note that bloodlines wasn’t in the picture initially but appeared as a psychological justification of inequality. 

In terms of sexual selection, von Hippel explains how some male animals invest little to no effort in reproducing and parenting. Compared to them human beings devote a lot of time and effort to their offspring. However not in equal parts. Female humans invest much more resources than male humans, in terms of carrying babies, feeding them and looking after them during childhood. Because of this, von Hippel explains, that it is the females of the species who choose their sexual partners. Due of their great investment they want to make sure they get the best deal. Males, as a consequence, have evolved to compete between them to get females attention by showing them that they can be good providers. Signs of good quality men (that women look for) are muscles, brain, strength, sense of humour and symmetry. A sign of good quality women (that men are attracted for) is their fertility which can be shown in their youthfulness and hourglass shape.

There is also an interesting discussion about survival versus reproduction. “Evolution depends primarily on reproduction” so most of our mental and physical traits and abilities focus on us being able to reproduce. Our survival mechanisms are active as they will allow to reproduce at some point. But it is not evolution’s aim to makes us live longer or forever.

More on the Social Brain hypothesis. Our brain grew large to solve social problems, then many of our cognitive abilities might play an important social role. For example, divergent thinking, related to alternative approaches to problems, might facilitate flexibility in social situations. We like to share the content of our minds because it helps us to fit in and to predict others’ actions. We share our knowledge but most importantly our emotions. We exaggerate, or distort our stories, to make sure other people share our emotions. Also, social demands have led to the evolution of self-control. Some people are better at that than others, especially they are able to translate their problems into abstractions which help to swamp temptations. And finally my favourite concept: self-deception. We deceive ourselves in order to deceive others. We think we are prettier or better than we are, and we try to convince others to share our views. In this respect self-deception is a social weapon to help us achieve our goals. We show overconfidence and (fake) happiness. There are a few research studies quoted in this part of the book, which I found extremely interesting and fun. For example, a study on HR consultants who were asked to recommend applicants for managerial positions. Consultants tended to recommend overconfident candidates rather than knowledgeable ones, as they couldn’t differentiate one from the other. 

Another interesting topic is Innovation. Von Hippel says “technical innovation is the defining feature of our species, but most people never invent anything”. True, isn’t it. There are two kinds of innovation: technical and social, both allowed by imagination and simulation (scenario building) in our brains. Social innovation is about solving problems socially rather than by inventing new products. For example, banding together to deal with aggressive individuals. For von Hippel the most important social innovations have been, division of labour, money and waiting in line. There is an interesting study on sex differences on social innovation cited here. The study evaluates SAT scores across several years. Students with high-math and high-verbal skills are separated from students with high-math and moderate-verbal skills. It turned out that the high-math/high-verbal group was 2/3 female and that the high-math and moderate-verbal was 2/3 male. The study also found that students who were only good at maths were more likely to choose a career in the sciences, and that students with an interest in people (and possibly good at maths too) were less likely to choose a career in science. These findings suggest that women’s underrepresentation in math and the physical sciences might not be a problem of barriers for women only but perhaps a matter of personal preferences based on their maths and verbal abilities. This study would also explain why women, who tend to be interested in people, would not much contribute with technical solutions to problems. Most patents are held by men.

The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F Hamilton.

First book in the Night's Dawn trilogy. It took me abt 20 days to read this 1220 page book. It felt like reading 3 or 4 books! The story is good but I wasn't excited. I will try and read the other 2 books (which are longer than this one!) But not now. Ideas I am interested in are the way certain transhumanist societies are organised, organic/biologic, sentient spaceships and the concept of affinity which allows humans to communicate between them and with their ships. Actually the theme I enjoyed the most was that one of genetically modified humans because it connects nicely with a book I read a few weeks ago: CRISPR People about Germline Genome Editing (embryo editing). It made me wonder about the social implications of such technologies, at least in fiction. 

I also liked the mystery around space ruins left by an ancient civilisation. I got a bit bored by the events in a pre-industrial, recently colonised planet and I didn't like the idea of humans coming back from the afterlife to possess other people... not science fiction but fantasy I think.

The Tower by Schuiten and Peeters

Beautiful, wonderful. A fascinating story about a mysterious tower. The story reminded me of The Tower of Babylon by Ted Chiang if only for all the climbing the protagonist has to do.

The authors explain The Tower was inspired by Giovanni Battista Piranesi's work, and others such as Bruegel, Paracelsus and Kafka. Actually the protagonist name is Giovani Battista and its design was based in Orson Well's image. The authors relate how they met with Wells to show him their work.

A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury (short story) and Time by Theodore Sider (essay)

I'm already in Part V Space and Time of this collection of Essays and Short stories: Science Fiction and Philosophy.

If you want to know what I think about the other chapters in this book click #sciencefictionandphilosophy

Bradbury's story is set in the near future where a company sells Safaris into the past for people to kill dinosaurs! Safaris are carefully organised to not create time paradoxes.

Sider's essay discusses two views on Time. Time Flows and Time is like Space. The essay ends with a reference to the Back to the Future movie which "fails miserably" as a work of Philosophy as it is full of paradoxical holes. Sider considers Terminator 1 a much better movie because it never contradicts itself.

CRISPR People. The Science and Ethics of Editing Humans by Henry Greely

Maybe this has been the most interesting, enlightening, eye opening and fulfilling book I have read this year. In the sense that a learned a lot about a previously obscure topic to me. It discusses Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats CRISPR technology to edit genes in plants, animals and humans, either ex vitro, on tissues, or in vitro on living organisms.

The book explains the CRISPR technology in simple terms. That is, how it is able to modify genes by cutting out, or replacing bad genes with good genes. A good way to visualise CRISPR would be via the text editor analogy, where it can find a misspelled word, cut bits of it and/or replace the wrong bits with the correct ones.

About 4 years ago CRISPR became a viral topic when a Chinese scientist, Dr He Jiankui, claimed to have produced 3 CRISPRed babies. Two twin girls and then a third baby months after. Dr He aim was to change a gene, the way it appears in some Nordic people, which makes them immune to some forms of HIV. Greely explains everything that is known about He’s motivations, planning, carrying out of the experiment and the way he was planning to reveal it to the world. The book also covers how the scientific community reacted and what tangible actions they have taken since.

When I first learned about the experiment I read quite a few comments supporting Dr He. Saying he was a hero who deserved the Nobel prize for eradicating one of the most feared illnesses of our time. People didn’t understand why Dr He was sent to prison for his actions. This book clearly explains why. Not only that. It explains all the ethical issues arising from the technology and the (written and unwritten) rules that Dr He broke and the possible consequences for the CRIPSP babies. After reading the book it is easy to see why Greely concludes that He’s experiment was “grossly reckless, irresponsible, immoral, and illegal”.

But what did Dr He do wrong? To start he didn’t do any pre-clinical work. Actually no-one had done that kind of work before. He didn’t experiment with ex vitro animal or human embryos, to asses the safety and efficiency of the procedure. Very little is known in the area and a lot of work needs to be done before even thinking about editing human embryos. Maybe decades of work. So He embarked on the job with almost zero preparation. Also Dr He did not provide a good enough reason for deciding to work on that particular mutation. The book goes in-depth with this issue but the point is that the risks of changing that gene very much outweigh the benefits.

Greely explains how Dr He’s failed to produce sound informed consents to be signed by the parents of the potential edited children and how they were not aware of all the risks involved. Apparently Dr He didn’t even get (ethical) approval from any of the institutions he was working with, the university, fertility clinics or hospitals. And if the above wasn’t enough the book explains how Dr He failed to achieve what he wanted (the gene mutation HIV immunity). Dr He knew that the embryos had different mutations from the intended and even after knowing this, he decided to implant them in their mother’s uterus. As far as I understand one of the twins got the intended gene changed, not to a known variant (as in Nordic people) but to a different unknown one. The result might be that this twin might not only be not immune to HIV but also in risk of other unknown genetic conditions. The other twin got only one copy of her chromosome changed. The other remained as it was. So no immunity either and a condition called mosaicism, where the girl will have cells with different DNA. The effects of all these changes are unpredictable and possibly dangerous. Nothing is known about the third baby.

Anyways there is much more in the book, for example, an in-depth discussion on how to deal with CRISPR technologies in the future. Is it inherently bad or can it be used for good causes?    A very interesting book indeed.

The Human Brain. Inside the most complex object in the known universe. New Scientist Essential Guide N7 Edited by Caroline Williams

A super interesting read. My favourite chapters where the one about female and male brains concluding first that there aren't female or male brains but brains with a mixture of female and male characteristics and second that (adult) brains are a product of the lives we live, education, etc. I also liked the chapter about How to treat a sick brain discussing Music, Psychedelics, Ketamine and Brain electrical stimulation. Apart from the hallucinations they produce I had heard about the powers of DMT and Ayahuasca to treat illnesses and to help overcome fears (like fear of death). I think I'd like to read more about the topic.

Blue Giant by Shinichi Ishizuka

It follows a boy, Dai, who is passionate about jazz and his tenor saxophone. He learns how to play it by himself and practices every day by the river. He will never stop until he becomes the best jazz player in the world.

This is one of those reads which makes you smile all the way. Dai reminded me of my younger self when I had plans and energy, and had all the time in the world! Beautiful.

I first knew about Blue Giant when I attended the Manga Citi Exhibition at the British museum in 2019. I loved Shinichi Ishizuka's art!

The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli

This book has helped me to understand the concept of time a bit better. The idea of time is very complicated and I haven't grasped it all but I think I'm in a better position now to keep on reading on this topic.

I got the point that time is not absolute but relative. It varies depending on mass and speed. So time passes slower on the ground than up in the air or in space. The closest you are to matter the slower time passes. Also the fastest you are travelling the slowest time passes for you. All this makes it impossible to conceive of a unique "present time" for everything that exists in the universe. So we cannot say what is happening "now" in the Andromeda galaxy for example because we don't share the same time patterns.

There is also strong connection between Entropy and time. In fact time is defined by Entropy. We can tell time is passing because Entropy has increased. "The difference between past and future does not lie in the elementary laws of motion; it does not reside in the deep grammar of nature. It is the natural disordering that leads to gradually less particular, less special situations. "

Explaining time becomes even more difficult when we introduce quantum physics. At the quantum level there isn't time. But it is somehow created through quantum interactions? I will have to reread this part of the book at some moment...

Oh and there is an excellent section at the end with Rovelli's thoughts about mortality and death. 👍

Anyways the book is excellent and written in an easy to understand language. It's the concepts it's trying to explain which are difficult.

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

A well known classic about a man who becomes a bug overnight. He sees his body is that one of a bug but he is still a man. Or is he not?

Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality by Helen Joyce

I read this book as part of my #myculturewarsproject. A project I started to understand discussions I read in the media. I have previously read The Righteous Man by Jonathan Haidt, The Madness of Crowds by Douglass Murray and The Transgender Issue by Shon Faye.

This is a well-researched, well written, eye opening book about an ideology which originated from ideas by social scientists and gender ideologists but which has been spread to other areas of societies, such us governmental, political, educational, medical institutions, social media, etc. This ideology has managed to remain invisible, unnoticed, under the radar, to the eyes of the common people. However it is very influential as it has managed to gain access to key political spaces and it is changing laws which affect lots of (vulnerable) people.

The ideology is called Gender Self Identification, and it means that anyone can claim to have any gender identity they want. This ideology has influenced law in several countries. Through a series of distortions and misinterpretations, concepts such as sex, woman, man, female and male are redefined or erased. Leaving gender identity as the sole idea to guide it all. (Gender used to be understood as a social construct associated with sex. Now it is a "feeling" disconnected from sex, because sex doesn't exist.) K. Donelly says, this ideology is an intellectual illness lacking rationality and reason. And if you think how can something like this could affect you or society in general, this book explains all the implications brilliantly.

It starts by explaining the trans sexual/gender phenomena, mainly from a medical and psychological perspectives. It introduces concepts such as androphilia and autogynephilia as well as dysphoria which explain some of the causes of transgenderism. It then introduces the idea of gender identity and how through time it co-existed with the concept of sex but now it has to make “sex” disappear from the collective memory to be able to go with their expansion plans. So for example, now women or men are not people who were born female or male but people who feel like they are women or men. The words women and men are disconnected from biology. This explains why now trans-ideologists consider a transgender woman (a man who transitions to woman) a woman and a female. As this ideology has been adopted in several areas of our societies, including the UK, now a born-male person can claim to be a woman (like your mother who gave birth to you) and access for example Women’s prisons, Women’s sports, Spaces where women recover from rape, domestic abuse and the like and others.

 

Another related and disturbing issue is the epidemic of transgenderism with so many people wanting to transition to the other gender. The book explains how trans-activists groom children and young people into trans-identification, followed by social transition, puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and medical interventions. All this is done by repeated gender-affirmation on social media, by therapists and doctors. The book also explains how most of these medical treatments and procedures are novel, and that there are little if any long term studies in these topics. There is no idea of the long-term consequences of using cross-sex hormones for example or how experimental are bottom surgeries are.

 

There are many more issues discussed in the book but little space here. So I will just mention one more, and it is that the gender self-identification ideology rejects biology and science. It is not based on facts and truths and it resembles a cult or religion with fanatic followers repeating mantras such “a trans-woman is a woman”.

 

I wish I could express my thoughts in a better and more organised way but I this is what I am able to do at the moment. I hope I’ll be able to write more when I manage to process all the information I have read.

 

I totally recommend this book if you are interested in the topic and/or if you are worried about children, women and the future of our society.

Embers of War, Fleet of Knives and Light from Impossible Stars by Gareth Powell

Quick read and great fun. The trilogy looks into ancient races, beings from higher dimensions, sentient ships and the imminent collapse of a human civilization. The topic that engaged me the most was that one of artificial Intelligence and how it can develop a conscience. I recently read an essay on Machine Ethics by Susan Anderson, which also looks into how AI can be considered moral agents. In the trilogy we have war AI regretting past actions and becoming more aware of the consequences of their actions but also "non-war" AI becoming genocidal machines following nonviolent moral values. It was interesting to reflect on how AI can go these two different paths in light of Anderson's essay.

Anyway that was the fun part. On the negative side I'd have to mention, one, the sometimes tiring and repetitive way in which the author recaps past events. And, two, the super annoying, random and distracting insertion of an event in the last 5th of the 3rd novel. That is, when the focus should have been on concluding the story and tidying up loose ends.

Spoiler Alert

The author shows a character, who wasn't even secondary but random, have a gender identity "crisis" 1hr or so before a confrontation with enemy battleships. The captain of the ship refers the character to the infirmary for a gender reassignment right away with a discourse on how these things can be sorted blah blah.... all this which is irrelevant to the story and happens in the middle of a space battle.

Anyway, read this if you don't mind the above 😁

Asimov's "Three Laws of Robotis" and Machine Metaethics by Susan Leigh Anderson

This essays discusses how we could create Ethical Machines. This is not the same as machines created ethically (as in computer ethics) but machines which could act ethically. For this, Anderson explains how Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics are not a got fit. More work needs to be done to develop an ethical framework which could be implemented in robots and AI.

The first part of the essay discusses how, in the Bicentennial Man Asimov rejects his own Three Laws by exposing how they would make a robot a slave. But, how can a robot be a slave if it isn't human? Well, Anderson explains how the story depicting human traits in the robot protagonist reaffirms the fact that it would be inhuman to program robots with the 3 Laws.

The next part of the essay looks into the field of Machine Ethics. First by discussing the concept of Moral Standing in machines. Anderson refers to Tibor Machan who believed that "to have rights it was necessary to be a moral agent, where a moral agent is one who is expected to behave morally". Here instead of telling a story, Anderson quotes a few philosophers' understanding of characteristics a moral agent should have to have rights or to, indeed, be a person. For example, Reason, Sentience or Self-consciousness are discussed. Using all these tools Anderson finishes the essay explaining why the 3 Laws are unsatisfactory.

No to robot slavery <--> robot rights <--> do robots have Moral Standing? <--> characteristics necessary to have Moral Standing

Excellent read for fans of Isaac Asimov.

Robo Sapiens. Tales of Tomorrow by Toranosuke Shimada

Thirteen interconnected short stories about robots. Simple but beautiful art and compelling graphic narrative. This is the kind of read that makes you think on so many what ifs... and which leaves you with questions. How much do we rely on our technology? Would we consider AI (and robots) the next step in human evolution? What would be the difference between posthumans and AI?

No-Cosas (Non-Things) by Byung-Chul Han

This is the Spanish translation but an English version has already been released. 

In this book the author makes a case on how our (excessive) focus on information and communication gives us uncertainty and thereby destabilises us. For this he first explains what “things” are: those tangible, solid, natural things which stabilise human life. Things anchor us and give us identity. In contrast, Non-Things or Information, destabilise us. Digitisation is ending the paradigm of Things. Byung-Chul Han says we do not inhabit earth and sky anymore but Google Earth and the Cloud. Currently “things” are covered with information because of this, they become “Infomats” or information-processing actors.

To explain his points, Byung-Chul Han discusses Smartphones, Selfies and Artificial Intelligence as Non-Things. The smartphone is the main Infomat of our times and has become a sort of prayer book for neoliberal capitalism. The author compares capital neoliberalism (and smartphones) with communism:

• Communism suppresses liberties. Capitalism and smartphones exploit our liberties.
• Communism involves commandments and prohibitions. Smartphones serve our needs.
• Communism makes us docile. Smartphones make us dependent and addicted.
• Communism is repressive. Smartphones are permissive.
• Communism imposes Silence. Smartphones incite communication and sharing of opinions.

Digital photos destroy our magical relationship with photograph. The digital medium transforms light into data, in numerical relationships. Selfies are not made to be kept as an memory token. They are short-lived. Real photographs are natural Things. Digital photographs are instantaneous non-things.

Artificial Intelligence cannot think. It lacks the affective-analogue dimension. AI calculate and process. AI doesn’t think.  Thought starts from a totality which precedes concepts, ideas and information. Before thought goes somewhere it is already on an basic animic disposition. It then articulates concepts the world with a fundamental animic disposition. AI will never achieve the level of conceptual wisdom. It doesn’t understand its calculations.

Quarantine by Greg Egan

Mindblowing Hard Science Fiction. A detective/spy novel in a world where humans use nanomachines to control their moods, improve their attention, access and process information, and many other things. At the core of the mystery there is a twist on actual quantum mechanics theories which try to explain the nature of reality. I think they are related to the principle of "complementarity", part of the Copenhagen Interpretation of quantum theory which states that the "quantum world is both wave - and particle-like, its the act of measurement that causes it to show one face or another. " (New Scientist, Essential Guide 1&5). Greg Egan adapts the concept of measurement making it an inherent human ability, something that we ourselves do unwittingly to create and recreate our reality. And then something happens when someone discovers how to not do that. The novel can be hard to read at points. There is hard science everywhere, explaining particles, waves, smear, probabilities, etc. but the actual plot is really interesting and worth the effort.

The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens

Gripping, super addictive, murder mystery. I read this in 2 days. A young man investigates a murder from 30 years before as part of a college assignment. The book is about the investigation in the present, the events 30 years ago, and a dying man who was convicted for that crime. Excellent character development for the protagonists and a couple of nice twists towards the end.

Nenúfares Negros (Black Water Lilies) by Cassegrain, Duval and Bussi

This is the Spanish translation. There is a digital translation to English by Europe Comics.

This is a gripping crime mystery graphic novel which is based on a novel of the same name by Michel Bussi. I loved the plot, and the twists. I loved the beautiful setting in a French village: Giverny, and the three mysterious female protagonists. And if that wasn't enough to like this book, there are, through out the whole novel, traces of Monet's art, in the landscapes and flowers that he painted and in some of the events in the story.

The Transgender Issue. An Argument for Justice by Shon Faye

This read is part of my #myculturewarsproject. A project I started to understand discussions I read in the media. I have previously read The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt and The Madness of Crowds by Douglas Murray.

This book discusses the current state of affairs regarding Transgender rights and way of life in the UK and abroad. It has opened my eyes to the complexity of the so-called transgender “issue”. I am glad I read it. First of all, it has informed me about the history of the transgender topic, from historical accounts about people and groups who (could) identify as transgender to the evolution of the concept. Second, it has opened my eyes to the unfair treatment trans people receive in their everyday lives. Third, it has clarified some conceptual, social and political issues around trans-people. The arguments are obviously skewed to the POV of the author, a transgender woman. But this isn’t bad, quite the opposite. Although this is not a memoir/biography, but an analysis, the text is enriched by the subjectivity of the author. Fourth, it has helped me to identify sources of misinformation. Fifth, it has left many more questions I want to investigate. To start I’d like to read someone with a different perspective on this same topic, and also to broaden my read to medical and legal issues as well. Content:

Introduction: seen but not heard

1.       Trans Life Now

2.       Right And Wrong Bodies

3.       Class Struggle

4.       Sex Sells

5.       The State

6.       Kissing Cousins: The T in the LGBT

7.       The Ugly Sister: Trans People in feminism

Conclusion: A Transformed Future

While I enjoyed the whole book, my favourite chapter was the Ugly Sister abt disagreements btw feminist factions regarding trans people. This doesn't mean I agree with Faye's ideas. I found it contradicting how trans activists, who rely on scientific advancements to transform their bodies challenge science's fundamental and immutable facts about biological sex. This on its own invalidates every other idea built on top of it. Nevertheless I'd recommend the book to understand one part of the argument.

His Master's Voice by Stanisław Lem

How would humanity’s best minds do to decode a message sent from outer space? What would they do with the information they decode? Is it even a message? Lem approaches these questions from a philosophical perspective, exploring existential and cosmological themes with a satirical touch. A bit of a dense read in parts but a novel worth reading if you are interested in first contact, decoding and seeing great minds working (or not) together.

The Way We Die Now by Seamus O'Mahony

An excellent, easy to read and interesting read. O'Mahony is a physician and has worked in the UKs NHS and in Ireland. In this book he relates how death happens in reality, and shares his thoughts on how it should happen.

O'Mahony states that in our (western) societies we hide from death, we pretend it happens to other people but not us. We do not talk about it and therefore are ignorant of all its implications.

Although the author is a physician, he does not rely solely on medicine, science and technology particularly when dealing with death. He advocates "death with dignity" meaning away as possible from busy and noisy hospitals, from tubes, pipes and any other invasive tools; but close to home and the people who care for us.

Through the book O'Mahony explains how people nowadays rely so much in medicine to the extent that they believe it can treat anything. But it can't. When there is nothing else medicine can do, it is better to accept death and live our last days as best as possible.

Homework: when the time comes, you are frail and dying, would you like to be taken to a hospital to attempt messy resuscitation or would you prefer to leave it as it is and accept your fate?

This might be a difficult topic for some people but I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in what really happens when people die and how we can make it better for ourselves.

Samurai Leyendas vol 1 & 2 by Di Giorgio, Mormile and Genêt

French comic about 3 female, bad-ass warriors. A fun, solid read. It is a spin-off series of the main "Samurai" series (which I haven't read) by the same writer. There are 5 french albums in these two Spanish volumes. They are not sequential stories but overall explain the origins of the three sisters of the shadow (who also appear in the main series). Samurai legends has a samurai setup with a supernatural kick. There are sword fights which are excellent with much movement and action. There is female nudity . Actually too much female nudity and very little male nudity. Amazing art thought. Nice graphic narrative, my favourite those large landscapes with smaller panels on top.

Farewell, my lovely by Raymond Chandler

Classic hardboiled novel. Written in 1940, it treats non-white characters in an appalling way by today standard's. Chandler's dehumanisation of non-whites, I guess, is part of his depiction of corruption in police and the same private detective, who is the protagonist. A well written and engaging novel, nevertheless.

The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker

A book on the fear of death from a psychoanalytic and philosophical perspective. A bit too dense in parts. There were sections where I felt every sentence was giving an important message and I needed time to process. I also felt some messages were a bit too repetitive. I struggled to get to the end of the book and didn’t quite get everything, but here my take:

We humans are the only conscious animals, the only ones who understand our mortality. We are a duality, part physical (and mortal), part spiritual/intellectual/conscientious which imagines way beyond our physical world and which cannot cope with the knowledge that everything has to end at some point. This knowledge translates into fear of death and affects every aspect of our lives even if we do not know it consciously. From childhood when we discover everything about our bodies to adulthood when we know the clock is ticking. 

We make up and construct concepts or institutions which are defences “against the knowledge that we are mortal beings.” Religion is one of them. Cities and culture are too. However the most discussed was science. One problem in our days is that science is taking religion’s place explaining what reality is about. This is giving us anxiety as science, so blunt on our faces, tells us how mortal we are and how even the universe will have an end. (This book was written in 1973 and does not mention any scientific research on transhumanism.)

Something I enjoyed reading was the discussion on Sigmund Freud's life and work. Especially the references to his death anxiety which made an interesting read. Becker however did not agree with Freud's view of sex as driver for human behaviour. Instead, Becker drew heavily on work by Carl Jung and mostly Otto Rank to argue that not sex but fear of death was our main motivation for everything.

Come with me by Ronald Malfi

I grabbed this novel from the library when I saw it was a Stoker award finalist. Gripping and fun to read, but not horror. It was a well written crime mystery with some rather ambiguous fantastic elements which you could interpret as supernatural or psychological (as happening in the protagonist's head). I went the psychological way and enjoyed the ride.

Mindscan: Transcending and Enhancing the Human Brain by Susan Schneider

I recently read Mindscan by Robert J. Sawyer, which is about a man who decides to upload his consciousness into an artificial body to avoid certain death. This essay, by Schneider, uses this story to explore about how the idea of uploading our minds would realistically (or not) help us become immortal. The essay starts discussing the topic of transhumanism and its philosophy. Transhumanists believe that humans can enhance all aspects of themselves (intelligence, illness free, etc.) using technology. But if we can improve (change) every aspect of ourselves, would we be still the same person? To explore this, Schneider discusses the psychological continuity theory “according to which the holding of some psychological relation is necessary or sufficient (or both) to persist” (In Personal Identity, Olson, 2010,). The psychological continuity theory is related to Kurzweil’s “Patternism”. Kurzweil (2005) states that “we are a pattern of matter and energy that persists overtime.” In the introduction of this book Schneider also explains that “this pattern is construed in computational terms: the pattern is the pattern of information-processing that your brain engages in  - the particular numerical values and nodes characterizing your neural network down to the last detail.”   

This essay raises important questions about the beliefs of transhumanists, particularly about the compatibility (or incompatibility) between “patternism” and transhuman “enhancement”. As the novel Mindscan shows, a person could make a “copy” of themselves and as a result both copies would share the same pattern. What then, could make any of them unique, an individual person? 

Super interesting and thought provoking read.

The Department of Thruth Vol 3 by James Tynion IV

 

My Library just got Volume 3 of The Department of Truth and I couldn't not read it, although it's an electronic version and it is killing my eyes.

This volume has different art, each issue was drawn and coloured by different people. The story follows Lee (Harvey Oswald) before he became the Head of the Department of Truth.

Leonardo 2 by Stéphane Levallois

B E A U T I F U L.

Don't expect epic science fiction or space battles but a homage to da Vinci's life and legacy. Levallois explores the concepts of post-apocalipsys, cloning and human survival alternating two stories. That one of the clone and that one of the original Master. We can see that both lives are connected and wonder what would've been Leonardo's life if he had been born centuries in the future.

The Man on the Moon by George J. Annas

Some of my favourite quotes from this essay:

"Immortality without purpose is also hollow."

“The Crusades, the voyage of Columbus, and the slaughters of the Spanish conquistadors who followed, are powerful examples of human exploration and human encounters with the unknown.  They teach us that the realm of human dominance can be radically enlarged by human imagination and courage. Equally importantly,  they teach us that without a belief in human dignity and equality, the cost of such dominance is genocidal human rights violations. They also caution us to be suspicious of stated motives and cover stories; although filled with missionary zeal, most of these adventurers and explorers sought primarily fame and fortune.“

“We could use our technology to explore outer space with such robots, but our current fascination is focused on inner space. Instead of expanding our minds and our perspectives as a species by pondering the mysteries of outer space with its possibilities of other life forms, we are turning inward and contemplating ourselves at a microscopic level. The bew biology perhaps better described as the new genetics or the “genetics age”, suggests a biology-based immortality alternative to a digital brain in a body of metal and plastic: changing and “enhancing” our human capabilities by altering our genes at a molecular level. Or, as James Watson, the discoverer of the structure of DNA, famously put it, ‘We used to think our future was in our stars, now we know our future is in our genes.’”

“… in the face of the Holocaust and nuclear weapons, genetic engineering appears almost benign. But this is deceptive because genetic engineering has the capacity to change the meaning of what it is to be human. There are limits to how far we can go in changing our nature without changing our humanity and our basic human values. Because it is the meaning of humanness (our distinctness from other animals) that has given birth to our concepts of both human dignity and human rights, altering our nature threatens to undermine our concepts of both human dignity and human rights.” 

> Regarding the last 2 paragraphs, I read a book titled CRISPR People by Henry Greely which I found super informative on issues related to gene editing. Worth a read!

The Department of Truth Vol 1&2 by Tynion, Simmonds and Bidikar

A comic about conspiracy theories, all of them together, with a touch of X Files. Liked the stories. The artwork is OK and fits the stories but at points it felt like reading without glasses when you need them. Like reading through fog. I guess reading an electronic version didn't help. Vol1&2 were the only ones available at my Library but Vol 3 has already been released. I'm curious to see how the story follows.

Mindscan by Robert J. Sawyer

This novel explores ideas on consciousness and personhood. What would happen if humanity creates the technology to upload a copy of a person's brain on a computer or an artificial body? What would be the personal, social and legal consequences? 

An excellent read in terms of the ideas it explores, not so much for its literary qualities. The story is interesting and engaging, the characters are ok and I loved the ending. There were some interesting dialogues with characters discussing what it meant to be uploaded and similar ideas. I loved a couple of discussions during a trial with expert scientists and philosophers discussing what consciousness is. What I didn't like was a few awkward dialogues which seemed like info dumping. Won't say more cos spoilers.

Richard Stark's Parker: The Hunter by Darwyn Cooke

An adaptation of Hunter a novel by Richard Spark. 

Wow! I loved this #graphicnovel. I was pleasantly surprised by #DarwinCooke ‘s narrative and artistic style. The first few, silent, pages are outstanding. Parker takes place in a stylish, 1960’s New York. The noir feel is amazing. Parker is the classic tough, bad guy in search of revenge. As bad and tough as they can get. Except when the femme fatale is with him of course. The art is on a different level. The two-tone colour palette fits perfectly with the story. The details, the shadows, the character designs, everything screams noir. 

I will definitely read the other three Parker stories. Totally recommend!

Wonders of the Solar System by Prof. Bryan Cox and Andrew Cohen

Beautiful book, fun, easy to read, with lots of amazing illustrations. From the sun to the terrestrial planets, from the gas planets to some of the most intriguing moons in the solar system. This book explains how the solar system might have been created and planets and moons became to be what they are now. There are amazing real life images of Saturn, Io, Europe and other places in the neighbourhood. 

This book was written in 2010 so some of the information might be out of date. This should not matter much as Wonders isn't necessarily about the latest of space research and exploration but about understanding the fundamentals of the Solar system and the profound implications this knowledge might have in the design of our future. 

* fundamental and profound are words Prof Cox likes to use a lot and for a good reason 🙂

Jonas Fink. Una Vida Interrumpida (A Jew in Communist Prague in the english translation) by Vittorio Giardino

Beautiful, amazing #graphicnovel . The life of a Jewish boy in post war Prague from childhood to his adulthood. Jonas’s life changes abruptly when his father is arrested for espionage and activities against the communist government. An obvious lie masking antisemitism. Unable to go to school (because he isn’t allowed by the government) he has to work to help his mother who is forced to work night turns in a factory. This unfair treatment and other discriminatory events affect Jonas’s personality and view of life. But there is always a spark of love for life every now and then as Jonas’s meets important people in his life. 

This graphic novel shows Giardino’s masterful ability to narrate stories, layered with human experiences and with well researched historical background. In fact, Giardino’s approach to including historical events is subtle but effective. Not only we follow the life of 3 dimensional characters but we learn about important events happening behind the iron curtain. 

The characters are flesh and bone. Jonas himself is great. His mother, Edith, who struggles to keep them alive, Slavek, a plumber, and Mr Pinkle, a bookstore owner. Both men employ Jonas at different stages in his life and represent in many ways the paternal figure Jonas didn’t have. Also a special mention to the Odradek group, Jonas’s friends from his adolescence, as they try to rebel against the communist restrictions of their times, reading “forbidden” books and singing “forbidden” songs. Literature and books play also an important role in the story, Jonas is an avid reader, he works in a book store and at points he writes poetry. There are quite a few literary references through out the book. Here a some of them: 

Mother - Maxim Gorky 

The Walk - Robert Walser 

Contemplation - Franz Kafka 

Darkness at noon - Arthur Koestler 

Doctor Zhivago - Boris Pasternak 

Flowers of Evil - Charles Baudelaire 

Herzog - Saul Bellow 

De noche bajo el puente de piedra- Perutz By night under the stone bridge - Leo Perutz

A final comment on Giardino’s artwork. It isn’t spectacular, with perspectives or double-page spreads. It's simply beautiful. First the graphic narrative is easy to follow. The depiction of characters, their moods and particularly showing the pass of time. Giardino is brilliant at making his characters age. Jonas’s goes from 12 to 50 and we can see he is still Jonas. Edith’s change is superb, not only the effects of time are shown but the effects of having her husband in prison, being unable to communicate with him, being followed and spied and forced to work in jobs she wasn’t good at, having to support her son economically and emotionally. Simply, amazing art.